Hosea is probably one of my favorite stories in the bible. It’s a terrible story really, it would be absolutely heartbreaking to have to go through what Hosea did but the meaning and representation behind it is so beautiful.
You see, Hosea was a righteous man, a man of God who prayed and heard His voice. God told him to marry Gomer, who was at the time a prostitute. He did and they had three kids together. Now the bible doesn’t really say but I imagine that they struggled with their marriage. I see a couple who got married, had children, then couldn’t afford to feed them, they couldn’t afford to feed themselves. I feel like after Gomer is married, I think she becomes depressed and thinks about what her previous lovers had done for her. They would give her bread, water, wool, oil, jewelry. She was probably rich as a prostitute and then when she gets married, she loses all that. I feel like she thought about the things she once had before marriage just like the children of israel did when they left egypt and were going through the desert. They went through some hard times in that wilderness and most of them thought, “At least in egypt, we had food and water and a place to sleep” but they couldn’t go back although they desired to. Gomer on the other hand, saw what she used to have and desired to go back and she did.
Maybe she was doing it for her children. Maybe she just enjoyed the high end of society she received as a prostitute. Whatever the case may be, she chose the things of this world over the word.
I can only imagine what Hosea was feeling. Coming home and your wife is gone and then the Lord tell you that she went back into the sex slave industry. Then the Lord tells him to go find her and bring her home.
That would be absolutely heart wrenching!
When Hosea finds her, she is a slave, she is placed in front of a crowd and is being sold.
But Hosea says in Hosea 3:2 So I bought her to me for fiteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley.
What blows me away is that Gomer is his wife! He already owns her! He should not have to pay a price for her!
Do you see where I’m going with this?
After he buys her, he brings her home and tells her, “You are mine.”
Gomer is a representation of me, of you, of everybody. We have this relationship with God but sometimes living for God is not easy. Sometimes we look at the people in the world and desire what they have because they look happier, healthier, more wealthy and have it much easier and we turn from our love and go chase after the things we left behind.
But, God already owns us. He created us! We are His. But He came down and paid a price for us anyways. He wanted to make it truly known that He owns us, that He paid the price to have us because He loves us that much. We may run, and run often, but God is always going to come back looking for us all because of His love for us.
Days of Pentecost 